Penn State freshman Dylan Alton finished third on Saturday. Larry Slater photo.

ST. LOUIS – Freshman Dylan Alton was the lone Penn State wrestler on the mat for Session 5 of the NCAA Championships.

But Alton still made quite an impact.

Alton won two matches on Saturday to finish third at 157 pounds and enable the No. 1 Nittany Lions to clinch their second straight national title before a sellout crowd of 18,694 fans at the Scottrade Center.

The seventh-seeded Alton beat No. 3 Jason Welch of Northwestern 6-2 in the third-place match.

“It was tough losing in the quarterfinals and having to refocus,” Alton said. “I just regrouped and did what I needed to do. I felt real good and relaxed out there.”

Penn State holds a 128.5-113.5 edge over second-place and second-ranked Minnesota entering the finals. The Nittany Lions clinched their third national title.

“These coaches have brought me to a new level,” Alton said. “We have the best coaches in the nation. They push us and motivate us to be the best.”

The Nittany Lions have finalists in Nico Megaludis (125 pounds), Frank Molinaro (149), David Taylor (165), Ed Ruth (174) and returning champion Quentin Wright (184). Minnesota has finalists in Dylan Ness (149) and Tony Nelson (285).

The finals are set for 6:30 p.m. Saturday in St. Louis.

Cornell junior Kyle Dake will shoot for his third NCAA title on Saturday night. The top-seeded Dake faces No. 2 Derek St. John of Iowa in the 157 finals. Dake won an NCAA title at 141 in 2010 before winning at 149 last year.

Returning champions Jordan Oliver of Oklahoma State (133), Kellen Russell of Michigan (141) and Zach Rey of Lehigh (285) also will look to repeat on Saturday night.

Top-seeded Iowa junior Matt McDonough will seek his second NCAA title at 125. McDonough won this event in 2010 and was second last year. He will face Megaludis in the finals.

TOP 10 TEAMS
Penn State 128.5, Minnesota 113.5, Iowa 103.5, Cornell 90.5, Oklahoma State 66, Ohio State 64.5, Illinois 62, Lehigh 61, Northwestern 42.5, Oregon State 40.5.

MEDAL MATCHES

125 Pounds
1st – Matt McDonough (Iowa) vs. Nico Megaludis (Penn State)
3rd – Zach Sanders (Minnesota) dec. Frank Perrelli (Cornell), 6-4 OT
5th – Ryan Mango (Stanford) dec. Nic Bedelyon (Kent State), 6-4 OT
7th – Jesse Delgado (Illinois) dec. Steve Bonanno (Hofstra), 3-1

133 Pounds
1st – Jordan Oliver (Oklahoma State) vs. Logan Stieber (Ohio State)
3rd – Tony Ramos (Iowa) pinned Chris Dardanes (Minnesota), 6:49
5th – Devin Carter (Virginia Tech) pinned B.J. Futrell (Illinois), 1:45
7th – Zach Stevens (Michigan) dec. Steven Keith (Harvard), 13-11

141 Pounds
1st – Kellen Russell (Michigan) vs. Montell Marion (Iowa)
3rd – Boris Novachkov (Cal Poly) dec. Kendric Maple (Oklahoma), 4-3 OT
5th – Michael Mangrum (Oregon State) pinned Hunter Stieber (Ohio State), 4:14
7th – Michael Nevinger (Cornell) dec. Darius Little (North Carolina State), 10-3

149 Pounds
1st – Frank Molinaro (Penn State) vs. Dylan Ness (Minnesota)
3rd – Donald Vinson (Binghamton) dec. Cam Tessari (Ohio State), 12-10
5th – Tyler Nauman (Pittsburgh) dec. Justin Accordino (Hofstra), 4-3
7th – Scott Sakaguchi (Oregon State) dec. Nick Lester (Oklahoma), 1-0

157 Pounds
1st – Kyle Dake (Cornell) vs. Derek St. John (Iowa)
3rd – Dylan Alton (Penn State) dec. Jason Welch (Northwestern), 6-2
5th – James Fleming (Clarion) dec. Ganbayar Sanjaa (American), 7-5
7th – James Green (Nebraska) dec. Walter Peppelman (Harvard), 9-1

165 Pounds
1st – David Taylor (Penn State) vs. Brandon Hatchett (Lehigh)
3rd – Bekzod Abdurakhmanov (Clarion) dec. Kyle Blevins (Appalachian State), 6-2
5th – Peter Yates (Virginia Tech) dec. Josh Asper (Maryland), 13-7
7th – Ben Jordan (Wisconsin) dec. Conrad Polz (Illinois), 5-2

174 Pounds
1st – Ed Ruth (Penn State) vs. Nick Amuchastegui (Stanford)
3rd – Chris Perry (Oklahoma State) dec. Jordan Blanton (Illinois), 4-1
5th – Nick Heflin (Ohio State) dec. Logan Storley (Minnesota), 3-2
7th – Ethen Lofthouse (Iowa) dec. Ryan DesRoches (Cal Poly), 3-1

184 Pounds
1st – Steve Bosak (Cornell) vs. Quentin Wright (Penn State)
3rd – Austin Trotman (Appalachian State) dec. Robert Hamlin (Lehigh), 3-1 OT
5th – Kevin Steinhaus (Minnesota) dec. Ben Bennett (Central Michigan), 3-1
7th – Joe LeBlanc (Wyoming) won by medical forfeit over Josh Ihnen (Nebraska)

197 Pounds
1st – Cam Simaz (Cornell) vs. Chris Honeycutt (Edinboro)
3rd – Cayle Byers (Oklahoma State) dec. Matthew Wilps (Pittsburgh), 3-2
5th – Sonny Yohn (Minnesota) dec. Alfonso Hernandez (Wyoming), 4-1
7th – Micah Burak (Penn) dec. Joseph Kennedy (Lehigh), 2-1 OT

285 Pounds
1st – Zach Rey (Lehigh) vs. Tony Nelson (Minnesota)
3rd – Michael McMullan (Northwester) dec. Clayton Jack (Oregon State), 10-5
5th – Bobby Telford (Iowa) won by medical forfeit over Ryan Flores (American) 
7th – Jeremy Johnson (Ohio) dec. Nick Gwiazdowski (Binghamton), 11-5